Living As You Always Have
by usiylover2
Summary: A glimpse at Quinn and Puck's married life.


Quinn and Noah get married a month after she graduates from nursing school and a week before he opens up his own body shop. They do it by the lake just outside of Lima that's green and beautiful where Puck used to play when he was little. They take Catholic vows before Noah stomps on the cup and they kiss and Quinn has never been so happy in her whole life.

They don't have much money, but it's alright because it's just the two of them and they don't need much to be happy. Quinn works in labor and delivery and it reminds her of Beth, the baby they don't talk about because they want to have a baby together one day and thinking about what brought them together in the first place hurts.

Quinn wants a girl so she can hold her tighter than her mother held her and tell her it's okay to cry when you're hurt and you can be in glee and not a cheerleader if you want. She wants to tell her that being prom queen isn't everything, but she wants to buy her the most beautiful dress in the world so that everyone knows that she _should_ be prom queen dammit.

Puck wants a boy so he can teach him how to play football and read the Torah. He wants to show him how to treat a woman with respect, not how to hit them or get so drunk that when she says "no" it sounds like "yes." He wants to tell him that gay men are just as manly as straight ones and football players are just as cool as the kids in chess club.

They don't talk to their parents much anymore. They don't really talk to anyone anymore, at least, not anyone from back in high school. Finn married Becky and they moved to Florida three years ago. Rachel, Kurt, Blaine, and Jesse St. James all lived in New York. Rachel and St. James are in some show called Summer Sleep or Autumn Awakening or something like that. Kurt is a fashion designer. Blaine is dating Jesse, and didn't work as far as Quinn could tell from his profile on Facebook. Santana is a lawyer in LA. Brittany is a cheerleader for the Lakers. Santana cheated. They don't talk anymore.

Burt and Noah (she calls him Noah now because they're grown ups and married and she's supposed to.) are close now, so Quinn knows a lot more about Kurt and Finn than she ever did when she knew them, which she thinks is funny since she thought she was in love with Finn and considered herself friends with Kurt after all the Cheerios business was over. Burt has lost weight and eats well and Carol really loves him, which is inspiring for Quinn. She wants to be like that with Noah, but Carol just laughs when she tells her that and says that they already are like that.

When Quinn finds out she's pregnant, she cries. She cries more than she'd cried since high school. It was an accident again, and they didn't have the money to raise a baby, but she wanted this baby so, _so_ bad. She isn't sick like she was with Beth, so she thinks it's a boy. She waits a week before she decides to ask Carol how to tell Noah. She says to just tell him. Quinn thinks that not very helpful at all, and that there's so much more to it than that. So she comes home from work early and makes dinner for him.

When she tells Noah, he just holds her and promises it won't be like last time, that this time they'll do it right, and she remembers why she fell in love with him in the first place. They go shopping for the baby together and Quinn's parents offer to pay for everything, but Noah is too proud to accept their money so Quinn takes it for him and they buy little train stickers for the walls in the baby's room.

When he's born, they name him Joseph after Noah's grandfather who died right after their wedding and who taught Noah how to be a gentleman when he was young. Quinn calls him Joey and when he has enough hair they shave it into a mohawk. His first word is "hello" and his first steps are out in the back yard that isn't very big but works since he's so small. He meets his sister Beth for the first time when she's six and he's two out by the lake where their parents got married. She looks like Noah. He looks like Quinn. They both have Quinn's nose and Noah's smile.

They're happy, even if it's hard. They're in love, even if it's hard. Joey calls Beth "Beh" the next time he sees her and Quinn almost cries because they love each other, too, and it turns out Beth wasn't a mistake at all. Noah kisses Quinn on the spot where a tear rests. She laughs. The sun is setting and it's beautiful. Joey looks up at Quinn and calls her mommy and doesn't understand why she's crying, so she just holds him and calls him her beautiful boy. She decides to never, ever let go.


End file.
